Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

I'd really like to convert around 20 home-videos onto DVD. However, despite
spending hours trying to find info about this on the net, I'm still really
confused.
 
I am looking for a new PC anyway so would like to take the opportunity to get
the correct hardware for the task. I already have Adobe Premiere on my dad's
computer and could use that on the new one (if that is the best program to
use?).
 
What graphics card should I use? I am considering buying the ATI All In Wonder
because it apparently has VIVO.  
 
My dad bought a cheap grabber card (£30 from ebuyer) a few months ago for the
job. We also purchased Pinnacle 8. Nonetheless, despite being really easy to
use, Pinnacle crashed frequently and the audio and video were always out of
sync. I believe that this is a common problem with Pinnacle - and ruins what
could be a great piece of software.
 
I have tried to download the video using the grabber card's own software. This
solved the A/V sync problems but the quality wasn't great, file-sizes were
huge, and I still didn't have my home-videos on DVD.
 
This morning, I imported the .avi videos made with the grabber card software
into Adobe Premiere. This seems to work ok although the quality is still bad. I
also missed the great scene detect feature found in Pinnacle (although I'm sure
that Premiere must have it somewhere??). I'm going to try to learn how to use
Premiere over the next couple of days!!  
 
In conclusion, how should I transfer the video from the VCR to the PC.  
The VCR has scart outlets - can I connect these to the s-video port on the PC??
Is this the best option? My mum really wants the videos transferred (going to
make it her Chirstmas present I think) so I can get some financial backing from
my dad. Is a new VCR with more outlets required??
Which graphics card should I use? I'm going to get a new PC anyway so don't
need to consider any existing components.  
What software is required? Adobe Premiere seems to be a complete solution but I
haven't properly looked at it yet. I noticed that the 'capture' window was only
interested in my fire-wire DV source - does that mean that it cannot capture
from an analogue source?? If this is correct, and I have to import the videos
manually using a 3rd party program, can I still use the 'scene detect' mode??  
 
Copying videos from VHS to DVD sounds really easy but I'm having a lot of
difficulties with it. I would be very grateful for any advice!!
 
Thanks in advance
Niall

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Ive just done tghis myself. I have a few videos Ive started to move onto
DVD.
I used a Winfast tv2000xp capture card. Using the component video out of the
VCR>to>VideoIn for VIDEO. And StereoOut to LineIn of Soundcard via 2xStero
Component to Single Stereo component cable.
Then the simple Winfast PVR program which does the job quite well. The
crashing you speak of is common - and theres a fix Ive stumbled across. The
crash happens due to codec encode/decode interference. If youve, for
example, got NERO installed - temporarily rename its encoding codecs. more
on that if you want to try this, but it worked for me. Stable as can be now.
I capture straight to Uncompressed files (both audio and video) and let my
dvd-authoring app do the rest. I use Pinnacle Studio 9, btw. With luck, you
should be able to put 2 vhs onto 1 dvd with a small amount of negligable
compression.
 
"NIALLBRUCE" <niallbruce@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041024124633.01064.00001889@mb-m26.aol.com...
> I'd really like to convert around 20 home-videos onto DVD. However,
despite
> spending hours trying to find info about this on the net, I'm still really
> confused.
>
> I am looking for a new PC anyway so would like to take the opportunity to
get
> the correct hardware for the task. I already have Adobe Premiere on my
dad's
> computer and could use that on the new one (if that is the best program to
> use?).
>
> What graphics card should I use? I am considering buying the ATI All In
Wonder
> because it apparently has VIVO.
>
> My dad bought a cheap grabber card (£30 from ebuyer) a few months ago for
the
> job. We also purchased Pinnacle 8. Nonetheless, despite being really easy
to
> use, Pinnacle crashed frequently and the audio and video were always out
of
> sync. I believe that this is a common problem with Pinnacle - and ruins
what
> could be a great piece of software.
>
> I have tried to download the video using the grabber card's own software.
This
> solved the A/V sync problems but the quality wasn't great, file-sizes were
> huge, and I still didn't have my home-videos on DVD.
>
> This morning, I imported the .avi videos made with the grabber card
software
> into Adobe Premiere. This seems to work ok although the quality is still
bad. I
> also missed the great scene detect feature found in Pinnacle (although I'm
sure
> that Premiere must have it somewhere??). I'm going to try to learn how to
use
> Premiere over the next couple of days!!
>
> In conclusion, how should I transfer the video from the VCR to the PC.
> The VCR has scart outlets - can I connect these to the s-video port on the
PC??
> Is this the best option? My mum really wants the videos transferred (going
to
> make it her Chirstmas present I think) so I can get some financial backing
from
> my dad. Is a new VCR with more outlets required??
> Which graphics card should I use? I'm going to get a new PC anyway so
don't
> need to consider any existing components.
> What software is required? Adobe Premiere seems to be a complete solution
but I
> haven't properly looked at it yet. I noticed that the 'capture' window was
only
> interested in my fire-wire DV source - does that mean that it cannot
capture
> from an analogue source?? If this is correct, and I have to import the
videos
> manually using a 3rd party program, can I still use the 'scene detect'
mode??
>
> Copying videos from VHS to DVD sounds really easy but I'm having a lot of
> difficulties with it. I would be very grateful for any advice!!
>
> Thanks in advance
> Niall

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

I use an all-in-wonder, capture directly to mpeg2 dvd format.  You need a  
decent cpu for that, i have an xp3200 though less power will do. Check  
http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/atiavi/atiavi.htm for good information.
 
Cheers,
Mike
 
"NIALLBRUCE" <niallbruce@aol.com> wrote in message  
news:20041024124633.01064.00001889@mb-m26.aol.com...
> I'd really like to convert around 20 home-videos onto DVD. However,  
> despite
> spending hours trying to find info about this on the net, I'm still really
> confused.
>
> I am looking for a new PC anyway so would like to take the opportunity to  
> get
> the correct hardware for the task. I already have Adobe Premiere on my  
> dad's
> computer and could use that on the new one (if that is the best program to
> use?).
>
> What graphics card should I use? I am considering buying the ATI All In  
> Wonder
> because it apparently has VIVO.
>
> My dad bought a cheap grabber card (£30 from ebuyer) a few months ago for  
> the
> job. We also purchased Pinnacle 8. Nonetheless, despite being really easy  
> to
> use, Pinnacle crashed frequently and the audio and video were always out  
> of
> sync. I believe that this is a common problem with Pinnacle - and ruins  
> what
> could be a great piece of software.
>
> I have tried to download the video using the grabber card's own software.  
> This
> solved the A/V sync problems but the quality wasn't great, file-sizes were
> huge, and I still didn't have my home-videos on DVD.
>
> This morning, I imported the .avi videos made with the grabber card  
> software
> into Adobe Premiere. This seems to work ok although the quality is still  
> bad. I
> also missed the great scene detect feature found in Pinnacle (although I'm  
> sure
> that Premiere must have it somewhere??). I'm going to try to learn how to  
> use
> Premiere over the next couple of days!!
>
> In conclusion, how should I transfer the video from the VCR to the PC.
> The VCR has scart outlets - can I connect these to the s-video port on the  
> PC??
> Is this the best option? My mum really wants the videos transferred (going  
> to
> make it her Chirstmas present I think) so I can get some financial backing  
> from
> my dad. Is a new VCR with more outlets required??
> Which graphics card should I use? I'm going to get a new PC anyway so  
> don't
> need to consider any existing components.
> What software is required? Adobe Premiere seems to be a complete solution  
> but I
> haven't properly looked at it yet. I noticed that the 'capture' window was  
> only
> interested in my fire-wire DV source - does that mean that it cannot  
> capture
> from an analogue source?? If this is correct, and I have to import the  
> videos
> manually using a 3rd party program, can I still use the 'scene detect'  
> mode??
>
> Copying videos from VHS to DVD sounds really easy but I'm having a lot of
> difficulties with it. I would be very grateful for any advice!!
>
> Thanks in advance
> Niall

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

"Mike" <mikepos1@yahoo.com> wrote in message  
news:kHRed.153776$Np3.6645390@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...
>I use an all-in-wonder, capture directly to mpeg2 dvd format.  You need a  
>decent cpu for that, i have an xp3200 though less power will do. Check  
>http://www.digitalfaq.com/capture/atiavi/atiavi.htm for good information.
>
> Cheers,
> Mike
 
 
Mike, gotta thank you for that link. Been wading through ATI stuff on a new  
build for awhile and this has a lot of good info in one place.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

NIALLBRUCE wrote:
 
 
> In conclusion, how should I transfer the video from the VCR to the PC.  
> The VCR has scart outlets - can I connect these to the s-video port on the PC??
> Is this the best option? My mum really wants the videos transferred (going to
> make it her Chirstmas present I think) so I can get some financial backing from
> my dad. Is a new VCR with more outlets required??
> Which graphics card should I use? I'm going to get a new PC anyway so don't
> need to consider any existing components.  
> What software is required? Adobe Premiere seems to be a complete solution but I
> haven't properly looked at it yet. I noticed that the 'capture' window was only
> interested in my fire-wire DV source - does that mean that it cannot capture
> from an analogue source?? If this is correct, and I have to import the videos
> manually using a 3rd party program, can I still use the 'scene detect' mode??  
>  
> Copying videos from VHS to DVD sounds really easy but I'm having a lot of
> difficulties with it. I would be very grateful for any advice!!
>  
> Thanks in advance
> Niall
 
I'm using an ATI All in Wonder 9600 PRO, doing the capturing with the  
ATI TV application. Afterwards I import that .mpg file in Pinnacle  
Studio 8. Works great like this, including the scene detection. For one  
or another reason, I cannot record directly from the ATI AIW in Studio  
8, it has maybe something to do with the WDM driver.
 
Most probably your VCR is a "normal (not S-VHS)" one, so it has no  
S-video output. You will need a scart-to-composite video/audio cable.  
Personally I use a Hi-8 videocamera with S-video output, and which I  
connect to the pc with a straight S-video and audio cable.
 
Success!

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

If you have a digital video camera with a firewire connection to your pc,  
you can use the video camera to convert the analogue output from the VCR to  
digital output on your pc.  The nice thing about this approach is that both  
the video and sound are converted at the same time and sent to your pc.  
Many capture cards only convert the video portion of the analogue signal and  
the sound has to be routed through a sound card where it is muxed with the  
video afterwards.  The big drawback with this approach is that after about  
15 minutes the sound is out of sync with the video.  If you need to buy a  
capture card, make sure that it has inputs for both the sound and the video  
and converts both the sound and video at the same time.
 
My favourite video editing software is Sony's Vegas Movie Studio 4.0.  It is  
a consumer version of Vegas Video for professionals and has everything that  
the home editor could want including a very intuitive interface.  It's the  
top rated editing software in North America.  I tried Adobe Premiere, but  
found it a little slow and difficult to learn.  It's probably overkill for  
what you need.
 
JK
 
"NIALLBRUCE" <niallbruce@aol.com> wrote in message  
news:20041024124633.01064.00001889@mb-m26.aol.com...
> I'd really like to convert around 20 home-videos onto DVD. However,  
> despite
> spending hours trying to find info about this on the net, I'm still really
> confused.
>
> I am looking for a new PC anyway so would like to take the opportunity to  
> get
> the correct hardware for the task. I already have Adobe Premiere on my  
> dad's
> computer and could use that on the new one (if that is the best program to
> use?).
>
> What graphics card should I use? I am considering buying the ATI All In  
> Wonder
> because it apparently has VIVO.
>
> My dad bought a cheap grabber card (£30 from ebuyer) a few months ago for  
> the
> job. We also purchased Pinnacle 8. Nonetheless, despite being really easy  
> to
> use, Pinnacle crashed frequently and the audio and video were always out  
> of
> sync. I believe that this is a common problem with Pinnacle - and ruins  
> what
> could be a great piece of software.
>
> I have tried to download the video using the grabber card's own software.  
> This
> solved the A/V sync problems but the quality wasn't great, file-sizes were
> huge, and I still didn't have my home-videos on DVD.
>
> This morning, I imported the .avi videos made with the grabber card  
> software
> into Adobe Premiere. This seems to work ok although the quality is still  
> bad. I
> also missed the great scene detect feature found in Pinnacle (although I'm  
> sure
> that Premiere must have it somewhere??). I'm going to try to learn how to  
> use
> Premiere over the next couple of days!!
>
> In conclusion, how should I transfer the video from the VCR to the PC.
> The VCR has scart outlets - can I connect these to the s-video port on the  
> PC??
> Is this the best option? My mum really wants the videos transferred (going  
> to
> make it her Chirstmas present I think) so I can get some financial backing  
> from
> my dad. Is a new VCR with more outlets required??
> Which graphics card should I use? I'm going to get a new PC anyway so  
> don't
> need to consider any existing components.
> What software is required? Adobe Premiere seems to be a complete solution  
> but I
> haven't properly looked at it yet. I noticed that the 'capture' window was  
> only
> interested in my fire-wire DV source - does that mean that it cannot  
> capture
> from an analogue source?? If this is correct, and I have to import the  
> videos
> manually using a 3rd party program, can I still use the 'scene detect'  
> mode??
>
> Copying videos from VHS to DVD sounds really easy but I'm having a lot of
> difficulties with it. I would be very grateful for any advice!!
>
> Thanks in advance
> Niall

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Hello there
 
I use an all in wonder radeon 7500 to backup vhs tapes:
Format : .vcr better quality
input : composite cable
audio : stereo
size : about 5G for a 2 hours movie

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

>
 > I'd really like to convert around 20 home-videos onto DVD. However,
 > despite spending hours trying to find info about this on the net,
 > I'm still really confused.
 >
 
I just finished doing that exact same thing, about 50 DVDs worth.
 
To answer one of your questions, the graphics card is irrelevant,  
perhaps what you should have said is "what capture device should I use",  
which is really a different question.
 
With regard to the hardware capture aspect, there is one solution that  
is so far above every other solution that it's not even a close call.  
That solution is to record from or through a Sony Digital-8 Camcorder  
with "pass through" A-to-D conversion capability.  The camcorder will  
then convert the analog video into a "Firewire" digital output.  This  
feature is present in most, but not all, Sony Digital-8 camcorders (it's  
missing from the very low-end models - you can tell if it's present by  
whether or not the Digital-8 camcorder can play back analog 8mm and Hi-8  
tapes).
 
With this capability, the camcorder does the A-to-D conversion in either  
of two ways:  Option 1, you play back an analog 8mm or Hi-8 tape, but it  
comes out of the Firewire port as AVI digital.  The computer has full  
transport control of the camcorder.  Option 2, you feed video (S-Video  
or just composite, with stereo audio) into the Camcorder's input jacks,  
and it comes out as AVI digital in real time through the camcorder's  
firewire port (there is no tape of any kind in the camcorder and the  
camcorder is not "running" in a mechanical sense).  The computer,  
obviously, doesn't have transport control of the source.
 
If you don't have and are unwilling to acquire a Digital-8 camcorder  
with this capability (you might be able to borrow or rent one), there  
are external devices (both USB and Firewire) that will do the same  
thing, but I've never seen one that does it as well, or as  
straightforwardly, as a Sony Digital-8 camcorder.  Be sure to get a  
Firewire or "High Speed" USB 2.0 device if you go this route, because  
USB 1.1's bandwidth isn't high enough to even allow a maximum quality  
transfer.  If you go USB, understand that USB 2.0 does not automatically  
mean "High Speed" USB 2.0.  And also that transfer speed is, of course,  
not a measure of capture quality in any way.
 
The file sizes will be huge, you will need about 20 gigabytes of hard  
drive space to do a one-hour video.  Also, the encoding times  
(converting uncompressed AVI to MPEG2) can be tremendous (as much as 8  
to 16 hours for a one-hour DVD, in some cases with a relatively slow  
CPU).  This is primarily dependent on the CPU, but it's likely to take  
hours no matter what CPU you have.
 
To get the best quality from very old VHS tapes made in the 1980's (I  
was doing dozens and dozens of them), I bought a JVC HR-S9800U S-VHS  
VCR.  This is an Ultra high-end VCR with a 4 MB digital frame buffer and  
digital video signal processing.  This VCR has digital time base  
correction, digital noise reduction and digital signal processing, and  
it's by far the best VCR I've ever used, I have NEVER seen this kind of  
picture quality from even an S-VHS VCR before.  You can find these and  
other similar high-end VCRs with digital TBC and signal processing on  
E-Bay, do a search for "digipure", which is JVC's trademark for this  
feature (you have to search the body of the auctions, not just the  
title).  By the way, I've not come across any VHS VCRs by anyone other  
than JVC that are this high-end or that have these digital features.  In  
my case, because of the location of the equipment (different rooms, and  
I didn't want to move things around), I actually elected to dub the VHS  
tapes to Digital-8 rather than to use the "pass through" feature with  
live video.  Had the equipment have all been together, I would still  
have used the Hi-8 camcorder to do the conversion, but not via an actual  
tape dub.
 
Then, as I previously posted, there are two distinct aspects to  
"creating video", they are video editing and DVD authoring.
 
Video editing is the acquisition of video clips and the assembly of  
those clips into what you really want to see as the final product.  This  
includes trimming the start and end points, order the clips in the  
sequence that you want, transitions between the clips, possibly video  
adjustments (color, brightness, contrast, etc.), and correspondingly,  
all of the things that you can do with audio that plays while the clip  
is showing, which might or might not be audio recorded "with the clip"  
(that is, it might be the "live" audio, or it might be narration or  
background music, or silence).  Also, you might want to incorporate  
"stills" into the video.
 
DVD authorship is the creation of a DVD, and that means primarily the  
menu structure, the division of the total video project into "chapters",  
etc.  This includes things like background music, menu "buttons", menu  
"backgrounds", etc.
 
There are some other considerations, things that impact the quality of  
the project but not the actual content, for example the encoding rate  
when the material is finally encoded into MPEG2 for the burn.  If you  
use the full DVD encoding rate, you get one hour of video on a DVD, but  
if you cut the rate - which cuts the quality - you can get 2 hours; I  
found about 80 to 90 minutes on a DVD was as much as I was willing to  
tolerate in terms of quality degradation.  There are also some other  
issues, you can use an MP3 audio track instead of the "standard" DVD  
audio track, it gives you more time on the DVD as the audio doesn't take  
up as much of the disc but not all players will play it (most will,  
however - usually, if they will play MP3 CD's, they will play a DVD with  
an MP3 audio track).
 
Editing and authoring is a very complex subject, and there are literally  
hundreds of programs out there.  I just finished converting all of our  
camcorder movies to DVD, and it was a 60 day project (it was about 50  
DVDs, I could only do about one DVD per day).  I also "produced" several  
DVDs that were not from camcorder tapes at all.  I tried about a dozen  
products, and the bottom line was that I don't like any of them, and I  
ended up using a combination of them.
 
I have to say, the bulk of the work ended up being done in Pinnacle  
Expression, a now discontinued low-end program.  I have a love-hate  
relationship with this product.  It's buggy and flakey as hell, and it  
doesn't do much compared to most of the other products that I tried.  
But it does everything that you need for most routine videos, and it  
does it quickly, easily and efficiently with the shortest learning curve  
of any of the products that I tried, if you don't try to go outside of  
it's "envelope".  As I said, I ended up using it for more than 80% of  
what I did, all of it's many warts not withstanding.
 
Moving up, I have Pinnacle Studio 8 and I used it for several projects.  
  It's much more capable than Expression, and more stable (but still not  
totally stable), however it has a learning curve like Corel Draw or  
Photoshop; frankly, it's just a bitch to use unless you are willing to  
spend dozens of hours learning to "master" this very complex program.
 
I tried lots of other programs, Ulead Video Studio, MGI (now Roxio)  
Videowave, Ulead DVD Movie Factory and a few others.  All had their  
strengths, all had lots of weaknesses.  One program that worked very  
well for certain specific editing tasks was Microsoft's Windows Movie  
Maker 2.  There were times when I had to do some really gross things,  
like create a video clip on the PC, and then send it OUT to a digital  
camcorder so that I could "re-import" that same clip in a different  
program, because for some reason the clip, created in one program,  
couldn't be "read" in another, even though the format was "nominally"  
the same.  Since it's a digital camcorder, there is no loss of quality,  
and Windows Movie Maker, which comes with ME and XP (be sure to get the  
free Version 2 upgrade) works very well for this, as well as for some  
video editing functions.  In this regard, Movie Maker is somewhat like  
Pinnacle Expression:  Very easy to use, and while far less powerful than  
something like Pinnacle studio, it still does "enough" to meet many  
user's needs on many projects.  But it doesn't do DVD authorship at all,  
it merely creates the video, and you still have to use another program  
to do the DVD authorship.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Thanks for all your advice!! It's extremely helpful!
 
I've decided to use my canon camcorder for the analogue to digital
conversion. I never thought that it would have the same, if not
better, capture qualities than the sole-purpose products available!
 
I'm still having problems. The camcorder is only showing a black and
white image from the VCR. I've done some research though and think
that this is the luminance. It seems that not all VCRs are s-video
capable (just my luck!) so I'm going to have to find another in order
to get the chrominance data. The VCR is really old, and I don't to buy
a fancy capture card, so it's not too bad! I'm particularly interested
in those 'digipure' VCRs (will def. look them up!).
 
It looks like my video capture problems are almost at an end. Everyone
who posted has been a huge help!! Thank you!!!
 
Niall Bruce

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

The very high-end JVC vcr's with "digipure" are the best playback  
sources that you can get.  I picked up an HR-S9900U on E-Bay, largely  
just for my video conversion project (our famly tapes, about 100 hours),  
and it is just wonderful.  I've NEVER seen such great quality from VHS.  
  [For those not familiar with these models, they convert the analog  
playback video to digital inside the VCR, then do digital signal  
processing on it using a 4 megabyte frame buffer (some models have only  
a 2 MB buffer).  They do electronic time base correction (tbc), dropout  
compensation, electronic noise reduction, etc., then convert the signal  
back to analog for output as conventional S-Video and composite.  These  
models, which are all 4-head or 6-head S-VHS models, sold for $500 to  
$800 or so new, but can be picked up on E-Bay for half that or less.]
 
In my case, because the equipment was in different rooms, I dubbed the  
output of the 9900U to a Sony digital-8 camcorder, then captured the  
now-digital video using firewire.  Had the equipment been in the same  
room, or had I been willing to move it, the same thing could have been  
done without actually copying the analog tape to a digital-8 tape.
 
 
Niall Bruce wrote:
 
> Thanks for all your advice!! It's extremely helpful!
>  
> I've decided to use my canon camcorder for the analogue to digital
> conversion. I never thought that it would have the same, if not
> better, capture qualities than the sole-purpose products available!
>  
> I'm still having problems. The camcorder is only showing a black and
> white image from the VCR. I've done some research though and think
> that this is the luminance. It seems that not all VCRs are s-video
> capable (just my luck!) so I'm going to have to find another in order
> to get the chrominance data. The VCR is really old, and I don't to buy
> a fancy capture card, so it's not too bad! I'm particularly interested
> in those 'digipure' VCRs (will def. look them up!).
>  
> It looks like my video capture problems are almost at an end. Everyone
> who posted has been a huge help!! Thank you!!!
>  
> Niall Bruce

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

From personal experience I can tell you that you are on the right track.  
The camcorder is the best device to convert analogue to digital video.  Get  
yourself a good VCR because the conversion will just capture what comes out  
of the VCR, it won't improve it.  Garbage in, garbage out as the saying  
goes.
 
JK
 
"Niall Bruce" <niallbruce@aol.com> wrote in message  
news:bcec7752.0411251625.4a7ac943@posting.google.com...
> Thanks for all your advice!! It's extremely helpful!
>
> I've decided to use my canon camcorder for the analogue to digital
> conversion. I never thought that it would have the same, if not
> better, capture qualities than the sole-purpose products available!
>
> I'm still having problems. The camcorder is only showing a black and
> white image from the VCR. I've done some research though and think
> that this is the luminance. It seems that not all VCRs are s-video
> capable (just my luck!) so I'm going to have to find another in order
> to get the chrominance data. The VCR is really old, and I don't to buy
> a fancy capture card, so it's not too bad! I'm particularly interested
> in those 'digipure' VCRs (will def. look them up!).
>
> It looks like my video capture problems are almost at an end. Everyone
> who posted has been a huge help!! Thank you!!!
>
> Niall Bruce

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Have you noticed any degradation of the quality of the images on the tape?  
In my case, some of the tapes were over 15 years old and the images had  
degraded considerably over the years.  Unfortunately there's not much you  
can do except play them back on the best equipement you can to ensure that  
no more quality is lost.  One of the components I use is a SIMA Copymaster  
that stabalizes the signals and boosts the weaker analogue signals before  
the digital conversion process.  It works pretty well.  Sounds like you have  
the Cadillac of VCR's so that much the same thing is accomplished.
 
JK
 
"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message  
news:41A813B3.3010506@neo.rr.com...
> The very high-end JVC vcr's with "digipure" are the best playback sources  
> that you can get.  I picked up an HR-S9900U on E-Bay, largely just for my  
> video conversion project (our famly tapes, about 100 hours), and it is  
> just wonderful.  I've NEVER seen such great quality from VHS. [For those  
> not familiar with these models, they convert the analog playback video to  
> digital inside the VCR, then do digital signal processing on it using a 4  
> megabyte frame buffer (some models have only a 2 MB buffer).  They do  
> electronic time base correction (tbc), dropout compensation, electronic  
> noise reduction, etc., then convert the signal back to analog for output  
> as conventional S-Video and composite.  These models, which are all 4-head  
> or 6-head S-VHS models, sold for $500 to $800 or so new, but can be picked  
> up on E-Bay for half that or less.]
>
> In my case, because the equipment was in different rooms, I dubbed the  
> output of the 9900U to a Sony digital-8 camcorder, then captured the  
> now-digital video using firewire.  Had the equipment been in the same  
> room, or had I been willing to move it, the same thing could have been  
> done without actually copying the analog tape to a digital-8 tape.
>
>
> Niall Bruce wrote:
>
>> Thanks for all your advice!! It's extremely helpful!
>>
>> I've decided to use my canon camcorder for the analogue to digital
>> conversion. I never thought that it would have the same, if not
>> better, capture qualities than the sole-purpose products available!
>>
>> I'm still having problems. The camcorder is only showing a black and
>> white image from the VCR. I've done some research though and think
>> that this is the luminance. It seems that not all VCRs are s-video
>> capable (just my luck!) so I'm going to have to find another in order
>> to get the chrominance data. The VCR is really old, and I don't to buy
>> a fancy capture card, so it's not too bad! I'm particularly interested
>> in those 'digipure' VCRs (will def. look them up!).
>>
>> It looks like my video capture problems are almost at an end. Everyone
>> who posted has been a huge help!! Thank you!!!
>>
>> Niall Bruce

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Yes, absolutely, SOME old VHS tapes degrade seriously, while others do  
not.  The tapes that I am working with are mostly over 15 years old.  
This is clearly an issue with the tape oxide itself, different  
formulations, some have stood the test of time while others have not.  
Nothing you can do about that at this point, really.  But the fact that  
the tapes do degrade means that if you want to keep these, they need to  
be converted from digital to analog ASAP.
 
[By the way, I made two copies of each DVD, using two different brands  
of media, one copy is in a bank safe deposit box, the other is at home.]
 
John Hall wrote:
 
> Have you noticed any degradation of the quality of the images on the tape?  
> In my case, some of the tapes were over 15 years old and the images had  
> degraded considerably over the years.  Unfortunately there's not much you  
> can do except play them back on the best equipement you can to ensure that  
> no more quality is lost.  One of the components I use is a SIMA Copymaster  
> that stabalizes the signals and boosts the weaker analogue signals before  
> the digital conversion process.  It works pretty well.  Sounds like you have  
> the Cadillac of VCR's so that much the same thing is accomplished.
>  
> JK
>  
> "Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message  
> news:41A813B3.3010506@neo.rr.com...
>  
>>The very high-end JVC vcr's with "digipure" are the best playback sources  
>>that you can get.  I picked up an HR-S9900U on E-Bay, largely just for my  
>>video conversion project (our famly tapes, about 100 hours), and it is  
>>just wonderful.  I've NEVER seen such great quality from VHS. [For those  
>>not familiar with these models, they convert the analog playback video to  
>>digital inside the VCR, then do digital signal processing on it using a 4  
>>megabyte frame buffer (some models have only a 2 MB buffer).  They do  
>>electronic time base correction (tbc), dropout compensation, electronic  
>>noise reduction, etc., then convert the signal back to analog for output  
>>as conventional S-Video and composite.  These models, which are all 4-head  
>>or 6-head S-VHS models, sold for $500 to $800 or so new, but can be picked  
>>up on E-Bay for half that or less.]
>>
>>In my case, because the equipment was in different rooms, I dubbed the  
>>output of the 9900U to a Sony digital-8 camcorder, then captured the  
>>now-digital video using firewire.  Had the equipment been in the same  
>>room, or had I been willing to move it, the same thing could have been  
>>done without actually copying the analog tape to a digital-8 tape.
>>
>>
>>Niall Bruce wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Thanks for all your advice!! It's extremely helpful!
>>>
>>>I've decided to use my canon camcorder for the analogue to digital
>>>conversion. I never thought that it would have the same, if not
>>>better, capture qualities than the sole-purpose products available!
>>>
>>>I'm still having problems. The camcorder is only showing a black and
>>>white image from the VCR. I've done some research though and think
>>>that this is the luminance. It seems that not all VCRs are s-video
>>>capable (just my luck!) so I'm going to have to find another in order
>>>to get the chrominance data. The VCR is really old, and I don't to buy
>>>a fancy capture card, so it's not too bad! I'm particularly interested
>>>in those 'digipure' VCRs (will def. look them up!).
>>>
>>>It looks like my video capture problems are almost at an end. Everyone
>>>who posted has been a huge help!! Thank you!!!
>>>
>>>Niall Bruce  
>  
>  
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati (More info?)

Yeah, I'm making multiple copies myself and giving them to the kids for  
Christmas as stocking stuffers.  A few years ago I was asked if I had a fire  
in the house and only had a few minutes to collect my belongings and leave,  
what would I take with me.  The answer came to me pretty quickly, my  
photographs and video tapes.  All the other "stuff" could be replaced.